8 Baking Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Any bakers out there? Baking can be tricky at times, but all you need is the right technique (and a little science) to make your tasty masterpiece turn out right. Here are some helpful tips to avoid making mistakes with your sweet treats:

Avoid baking in the wrong size pan. You should always use the right size pan when you bake. You shouldn’t substitute a different pan size for the one the recipe calls for because this will cause your cake to be over baked or under baked.

Avoiding using ingredients that are out of date. Especially on things like yeast, baking powder and baking soda because these expired items will not allow your recipe to rise. You don’t want to experience this to a recipe that you’ve put all your effort into.

Avoid having an oven with irregular oven temperatures. If you have an oven like this, test to see where the hotspots are in it, as oven vary a lot. You can test your oven by putting about four pieces of bread on a baking sheet and popping them in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Take the bread out after 7 minutes and you can tell if your oven bakes evenly or not. If does not, then some pieces of toast will be more cooked than others.

Avoid ignoring words or directions you don’t understand in recipes. Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it’s not important. Recipes rarely have instructions that shouldn’t be in it. Look up anything you don’t understand because those little details will make or break a finished recipe.

Avoid putting the wrong things in the refrigerator. For example, most flour-based baked goods don’t do well in the refrigerator. Not everything needs to be out in the refrigerator.

Avoid leaving baked items in the oven too long. This seems obvious, but it must be stated. Doing this will make your baked goods dry out. It will be worse if your oven is too hot. With that, make sure to use a timer.

Avoid improvising inappropriately. It’s rare for improvised baking to work. Baking is science and ingredient ratios are important. However, it is possible for it to work. The key is to know what you can improvise. Ratios of the staple ingredient cannot be improvised but all the flavors can be.

Avoid baking a cake that falls. After your cake falls, there’s not much that you can save. To prevent your cake from falling, don’t open the oven during the first three-quarter of cooking time. Also, if you end up a cake that falls, don’t waste it! You can use it to make sweet or savory bread pudding. It can also be used as parfait layers. Just use whipped cream, add fruit and use your fallen cake as a pudding dessert.